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Sigmund Freud: Unforgettable Figure in Psychology

Sigmund Freud founder of psychoanalysis, and his views on how people are motivated by more than what meets the eye, is something that I will always remember from psychology 1001. He theorized that people were driven by sexual desires and that the subconscious, unbeknownst to the subject was the main driver of their actions. He also brought new ideas to the table that psychologists had never thought of before and a set precedent for therapy. An example of ideas he brought to the world of psychology include but aren't limited to dream interpretation, psychosexual development (oral, anal, phallic stages), the id, ego, and superego and commonly known terms referring to coping mechanisms such as repression, denial, and displacement.

Without Freud psychology wouldn't be nearly as developed as it is today. His findings brought about many milestones that future psychologists built off of today. Although Freud was a big figure in psychology, he did have many questionable findings. Such findings include the use of cocaine in his hypnosis therapies and use in treatment of depression and belief in the Oedipus/ Electra complex (idea that children when hitting the phallic stage were attracted subconsciously to their opposite sex parent). Even with his unreliable findings, he went where many psychologists didn't and because of this stands out as a figure that I will always remember from Psychology 1001.